The Flower and the Scorpion
by MaryLouise1996
Summary: Scorpius and Rose have been best friends since first year. When Scorpius stays with her for the summer it's a bundle of laughs, but what if he ends up feeling something more? Rose has a boyfriend and is happy, so shouldn't Scorpius just give up and move on? *Alternating POV* Rated T for language :)
1. Chapter 1: Scorpius

**A/N**This is a new MultiFic that I've been working on, and I wanted to share with you all. Each chapter the point of view will alternate between Scorpius and Rose. I hope you like it! **~MaryLouise1996**

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The Flower and the Scorpion

It was the summer after his 6th year and Scorpius was staying with Rose's family.

Ordinarily, he would have been staying with Al, but he and the rest of the Potters had gone away for the holiday of a lifetime, travelling across the continent.

Scorpius didn't get on with his family. Their sadistic beliefs and blood-purity mania had rubbed him up the wrong way ever since first year when he'd seen what a load of bullshit it was, and last summer he'd finally had enough, packed up his stuff and gone to Al's, where he'd spent every holiday since then. He had yet to actually be disowned by his family and cut off from their sizable bank account, so for the moment everything was hunky-dory.

When he'd found out that he wouldn't be able to stay at Al's for the summer he'd understandably gone into a bit of a panic, until Rose's mum, Hermione, had invited him to stay with them. Her dad, Ron, had come to terms with their friendship in second year so, apart from a bit of pouting, he'd been fine with it.

It was a Monday evening about two weeks into his stay and they had just finished eating their evening meal.

"Rose, sweetie, could you please clear the kitchen for me? Your dad and I have to get ready to go out. You just need to dry up and put things away; I already had the pans wash themselves."

Scorpius watched as Rose rolled up the sleeves of her Holyhead Harpies hoodie and pulled her curly red hair into a ponytail. He reclined against the wall in his chair and positioned his hands behind his head as she picked up a towel and began to dry a saucepan. She turned around to lean against the worktop as she did so.

"Oi, you lazy oaf! Come and help!"

"Ah, you see, your mum didn't ask me to. Also, I'm the guest."

He smirked at her as he picked up a tea towel anyway.

"Have you heard from your dad this week?"

He could hear the concern in her voice, even as she tried to disguise it with an airy tone.

"That wanker? No. Which is good, if you ask me. No news is good news. It means that they haven't cut me from my inheritance just yet!"

"Well, I think they should hurry up and disown you."

Rose joined in on the joking around.

"I would if I were them. Couldn't wait to get rid of you. You're a complete arsehole!"

"Oi! Watch it you! You are talking about the Complete Supreme, King of Hogwarts, heartbreakingly beautiful Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy!"

Rose just snorted and he grabbed the towel that she was holding and held it high in the air. She was relatively short and he towered over her, at least a head taller, so she had no chance of getting it. But that doesn't mean she didn't try.

She jumped and squealed and tried distraction techniques and did absolutely everything in her power to get him to lower his arm. And then she punched him in the stomach. Hard. Eyes watering, he doubled over and Rose snatched the tea towel with a triumphant "Ha!" as he struggled to get his breath back. Her chocolate brown eyes glinted with laughter as she picked up another plate and began to dry it. Little did Rose know that Scorpius was only acting now, waiting for a chance to pounce on her.

Suddenly he sprang towards her and lifted her up. She squealed and screamed and kicked and pounded on his back with her fists.

"Put me down! Put me down right now Scorpius Malfoy! Oh my god! Get off! Put me down!"

The plate that she was holding slipped from her grip and smashed on the ground. Rose and Scorpius froze as they heard the pounding of feet running down the stairs and the next thing they knew, Rose's dad dashed through the door into the kitchen.

"What the bloody hell is going on?!"

Scorpius put down Rose as gently as a newborn baby for fear of angering her father further and retreated slightly, so that Rose was in front of him.

"We were just messing around, Dad. Having a bit of fun, that's all!"

Ron just glowered at her, pointing his wand at the shattered plate. Silently the pieces all flew back together and Rose stuck out her hand and caught it before it could fall to the ground again.

"See, no harm done. Just go back upstairs and get ready. Mum'll go mad if you're late."

After Ron had retreated back upstairs, muttering something about "his baby", Rose wheeled around to face Scorpius again with a mischievous glint in her eye.

"What was that?"

"What was what?"

"What was that little stunt you just pulled?"

"What little stunt?"

Scorpius pulled what he hoped was a "What, **me?!**" kind of face.

"Your brutal attack or hiding behind me. You choose. Which one would you prefer I ripped the shit into you for?"

"Urm… brutal attack?"

"YOU WERE HIDING BEHIND ME!"

With that, Rose lapsed into helpless giggles. Her hair, which had fallen from its band during their fight, fell across her face which was bright with laughter. It looked so soft in that moment that Scorpius just wanted to stroke it.

Rose looked beautiful when she laughed. She looked smoking hot most of the time, not that Scorpius would ever admit it, but when she laughed the whole world just wanted to laugh with her. Scorpius never thought these kinds of things though. He was far too manly for that.

"I was not hiding behind you!"

Scorpius spluttered in protest, while Rose just made some sort of helpless gesture towards him as her body convulsed with giggles.

"You were! You were hiding! Are you like, scared of my dad or something?!"

"I'm not scared of your dad! I just thought that you'd handle it better. What was I gonna say? 'Hi, I just brutally assaulted your daughter and caused her to smash one of your family heirlooms. Please don't throw me out of your house.'"

"Phaa. He's too much of a softie to throw you out. Even if you **did **just brutally assault me. Right. I've had enough of doing this the muggle way. Too dangerous with you around, seriously."

With a wave of her wand, Rose caused all of the dry pieces of crockery to fly into their rightful cupboards and the tea towels to begin drying all of the rest of the washing up.

"I'll come down and put it all away later. I'm gonna go and get ready for bed now. Then we can watch a film, yeah?"

"Sure. That sounds good. You're on the floor this time though. A growing boy needs the whole sofa to himself."

"My arse you get the whole sofa to yourself."

Scorpius washed his face in the en suite bathroom of the guest room that Rose's mum had prepared for him to sleep in. Wandering back into the bedroom, he pulled a pair of lounge pants and a t shirt from under the covers where he'd stuffed them this morning in a vain attempt to keep the room tidy.

He stripped to his boxers before folding his clothes and stowing them in his trunk. As he stood up he smacked his head on the lid and stood up swearing loudly.

At that moment the door to his room swung open and Rose walked in.

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**A/N**Let me know what you think! I have about the first six chapters already written, but I will totally edit them if someone says "Oh, you need to do this, it would be better if you did that." I'm also not to sure on the title.. If anyone has any better idea then please let me know :D **~MaryLouise1996**


	2. Chapter 2: Rose

**A/N**IsThatBlueFood begged me to upload the next chapter, and I don't like to keep ma fans waitin' ;) Here it is! **~MaryLouise1996**

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The Flower and the Scorpion

Rose pushed open the door to Scorpius' room and walked straight in. It was only when she was through the door that she bothered to look at him.

He was standing by his trunk, slightly red in the face and holding the back of his head, wearing only his underwear. Rose was standing in front of a topless Scorpius Malfoy. Topless. He had no top on. Or trousers.

"Bollocks! Sorry!"

She backed out of the room, face flaming. She didn't like to admit it to herself, but he looked pretty good. Probably all that Quidditch he played. God knows that was the only thing keeping her stomach flat. But she couldn't be thinking that. Not about Scorp. It didn't matter if he was actually extremely good looking, she wasn't allowed to think that.

"Rose? You still there? You can come back in now."

Rose opened the door again and shoved her hands into the pockets of her hoodie to give them something to do. Scorpius was rooting through his trunk for something and he looked up at her, his bright blue eyes glittering light-heartedly.

"I just wanted to tell you that I just got and owl from Ben."

Rose couldn't be sure if she had imagined it, but she could have sworn that she saw his eyes harden for a fraction of a second before he turned back to his trunk.

"Oh yeah? What'd it say?"

"Well, he asked if I wanted to meet him at Diagon Alley tomorrow. But I didn't know what you wanted to do tomorrow so I came to check."

"Oh no, that's fine! You wanna meet Ben, you go meet Ben. I'll find something to do."

"Are you sure Scorp? Cause you don't sound too sure."

"No, really! It's fine. Me and Jake were saying that we'd have to get together, I'll just apparate over to his."

Scorpius shot her a genuine smile and Rose visibly relaxed.

"Great! Thanks so much, Scorp, it means a lot."

As Rose lay flat on her stomach fiddling with the DVD player, she thought about how great Scorp had been about the next day. She had been seeing Ben Thomas for six months now and she knew that neither Scorpius nor Albus was happy about it, but after a couple of weeks of protesting neither of them said anything.

Scorpius and Ben definitely didn't see eye to eye, and neither did Albus and Ben. It was trickier for Albus, who shared a dorm with him in the Gryffindor tower, but Scorpius and Ben seemed to argue a lot more than should be necessary.

Ben Thomas, who's father Dean Thomas fought alongside her parents and many of her relatives in the Great War, was tall, dark and charming. He had a special smile which her reserved especially for her and he made her feel better about herself than she ever felt. He always knew exactly what to say to make her melt into his arms. Sure, sometimes he could be a bit distant and sometimes it was hard to pin him down for any time alone, but she could look past all that. He thought that she was someone special and surely that was all that mattered.

When Scorpius walked into the room, true to his word, he stretched across the couch without leaving any room for Rose.

"Move, asswipe."

"Language. You're a young lady, remember."

"Shut your mouth and move."

Scorpius just sent her a charming smile and stretched out further, supporting his head with his arms. The movement meant that his abs could be seen through his t shirt, which made Rose imagine him topless. Which really shouldn't happen. Oh God. What was going on?!

To hide her embarrassment, Rose took out her wand and conjured a squashy red beanbag. She levitated it to land on top of the arrogant boy currently lying on her couch and launched herself on top of it.

"All right down there Scorp? Comfy?"

A muffled grunting could be heard from beneath her.

"Great, I'll start it then."

Almost as soon as the opening title could be heard from the TV set, Rose felt the beanbag tip from beneath and found herself sprawled on the floor while Scorpius glared at her, red-faced, from the sofa.

"That was low."

"So are you."

"That was lower."

"You're so low I wipe you off my shoes."

"Bitch."

"Whore!"

Rose's final insult was infused with such sickening cheeriness that any living thing nearby who thought she was serious might have been sick.

"Implying that I'm a woman. You wound me Miss Weasley!"

Shooting her a mournful look, Scorpius slid down onto the floor and put his arm round her. Rose was horrified to feel her heart quicken.

"Get off you little suck up."

Jumping up, Rose took her turn stretching across the sofa, although she didn't do it nearly as effectively as Scorpius had, with his broad shoulders and tall, muscular build.

Scorpius just smiled at her and settled into the beanbag on the floor.

Oh, how Rose laughed when she Vanished it halfway through the film.

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**A/N**I hope you liked it! How often would you guys like me to update? Let me know in the review section! **~MaryLouise1996**


	3. Chapter 3: Scorpius

**A/N**I'm going to try and update every other day until I go back to school on the 8th of January. Thank you for letting me know! **~MaryLouise1996**

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The Flower and the Scorpion

As he yanked his top over his head, Scorpius couldn't help but smirk at the blush that he knew would be creeping into Rose's complexion right about now. Then he realised that Rose was his best friend and that really, this was all a bit weird and stopped smirking very quickly.

"Rose? You still there? You can come back in now."

As the door started to swing open, Scorpius suddenly realise that his face felt very hot and dived for his trunk and rifled through it under the pretence of looking for something. He shot what he hoped was a confident smile and gestured for her to speak.

"I just wanted to tell you that I just got and owl from Ben."

Scorpius felt his stomach drop and he turned back to his trunk quickly. He hated Thomas. He hated that Rose had been seeing Thomas for the last six months. He also knew that Rose would hex his bollocks off if he said anything.

"Oh yeah? What'd it say?"

"Well, he asked if I wanted to meet him at Diagon Alley tomorrow. But I didn't know what you wanted to do tomorrow so I came to check."

Scorpius held back a growl. He had no right to feel this way. It's not like he and Rose had plans, and he was getting to spend literally every moment around her this summer, due to, you know, living in her house. It's just, he knew what Thomas was capable of. What he did to other girls. To be honest, it was a surprise that he'd managed to stay faithful for this long. He just didn't want to see Rose, his best friend since they met on the train that first journey, get hurt.

But he couldn't say that to her. It wasn't fair, and she'd made it pretty clear to both himself and Albus six months ago that she didn't care and didn't want to hear about their views on the relationship.

"Oh no, that's fine! You wanna meet Ben, you go meet Ben. I'll find something to do."

Crap, that could have sounded more convincing.

"Are you sure Scorp? Cause you don't sound too sure."

Scorpius really needed to get his shit together to convince her.

"No, really! It's fine. Me and Jake were saying that we'd have to get together, I'll just apparate over to his."

Scorpius mustered his most natural smile from within and saw Rose's face clear and her shoulders drop. She exhaled.

"Great! Thanks so much, Scorp, it means a lot."

As Rose closed the door Scorpius fell back onto his bed and stared grouchily at the ceiling. Stupid ass Benjamin Thomas.

Scorpius sauntered into the sitting room to find Rose lying flat on her stomach frowning at the little machine that made films play on the TV. Taking his opportunity, he stretched out across the sofa leaving no room for the little redhead on the floor in front of him.

"Move, asswipe."

Scorpius winced and made a big show of looking offended.

"Language. You're a young lady, remember."

"Shut your mouth and move."

Scorpius just flashed her his most winning smile, the one he used when he was pulling the moves on a girl (because he just _knew_ that it would make her uncomfortable) and puffed his chest out. Quick as lightening, Rose conjured a huge beanbag which she promptly dropped on top of him and then sat on. Hard.

Unable to make any sort of winning argument with a girl sat on his face, Scorpius just grumbled until he knew she was distracted and then shoved her and the beanbag off of the sofa. He false-glared at her where she lay, spread-eagled on the floor.

"That was low."

Rose stuck her tongue out at him.

"So are you."

He feigned a hurt expression.

"That was lower."

Smiling maliciously, she said, "You're so low I wipe you off my shoes."

"Bitch."

"Whore!"

Rose's last comment was infused with such a false cheeriness that Scorpius was surprised any living thing nearby hadn't been sick.

"Implying I'm a woman. You wound me, Miss Weasley!"

Dropping all pretence of mournfulness, Scorpius scooted down onto the floor and pulled Rose into a very one-sided hug.

"Get off you little suck up."

Rose wriggled away and spread herself across the sofa in an attempt to prevent Scorpius sitting on it as well. Although he knew full well that he could move her if he wanted, Scorpius just dragged the beanbag down to the end of the sofa by her feet so that she would be able to see the TV.

He tried to ignore the fact that her hoodie had risen up slightly from the waistband of her pyjama shorts to reveal a flat stomach and that her long bare legs were tantalizingly close to his head.

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**A/N** Thank you so much to everyone who has followed the story and I hope that you enjoyed this chapter as well! Please review and let me know what you think; it means the world to me! **~MaryLouise1996**


	4. Chapter 4: Rose

**A/N**Soooo, since it's New Years Eve, I thought I would be extra nice and release the next chapter before 2013 rolls around! Enjoy it guys :3 **~MaryLouise1996**

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The Flower and the Scorpion

The next morning, Rose woke up early even though she hadn't arranged to meet Ben until midday. She spent an extra long time in the bathroom, until her not-so-little brother Hugo began banging on the door having returned from spending the night at Lorcan and Lysander's house.

As she extra-carefully applied her makeup and did her hair, she kept feeling little butterflies jumping around in her stomach. It made her smile.

At 11, she suddenly realised she had nothing to wear. Without thinking, she ran to Scorpius' room and knocked on the door. When he opened it, his hair was messed up and he was blinking down at her blearily.

"I have nothing to wear! Help!"

Scorpius just looked at her for a moment, confused.

"Uh… just wear what you had on yesterday. That was nice."

"Are you crazy?!"

"Apparently. What have I done this time?"

"I can't wear jeans and a hoodie on a date!"

"Oh. What can you wear on a date then?"

Rose huffed dramatically and stormed away. When she got outside, she apparated to her best friend Keira's house.

* * *

She stood on the doorstep, only slightly aware that she was actually still in her pyjamas. When Keira opened the door she pushed her way inside.

"I'm seeing Ben today and I have nothing to wear!"

Her friend stared at her for a second before she burst out laughing.

"What? What's so funny?!"

Keira's giggles finally subsided and she was able to speak.

"You- you just turned up on my doorstep. In your pyjamas. Unannounced. I bet you haven't even told your parents that you're here. All because you're having a breakdown over _clothes!"_

With the last word Keira lapsed back into uncontrollable giggles and after a few moments, Rose joined her. When they were finally finished laughing at the ridiculous situation and tears were rolling down their cheeks, Keira snapped into business mode.

"Right. Firstly, what a load of bull, of course you have something to wear. But as it happens, I just bought the _cutest _top. It's perfect!"

She turned on her heel and raced up the stair, Rose hot on her tail.

Within minutes, Rose was leaving Keira's, still in her pyjamas but clutching a bundle of clothes and accessories that she had borrowed and with a promise to come back in a couple of days.

* * *

When Rose came downstairs to leave to meet Ben, she found Scorpius sitting at the kitchen table with Hugo eating breakfast.

"Well, if I may say so Miss Weasley, that certainly looks better than what I was suggesting."

He tossed her a cheeky wink as Hugo scowled at him, and Rose looked nervously down at her outfit.

She was wearing a pair of her own pale blue denim hotpants with the top that Keira had lent her. It was a white crop top with a lace overlay that skimmed the lowrise waistband of her shorts and often flashed glimpses of tanned stomach and hip-bones as she moved. She had paired them with a borrowed pair of navy and white striped pumps and she had slipped a few simple silver bangles onto her wrist.

"Are you sure?"

"Positive. Now get lost, you're going to be late."

"Fashionably late, darling."

She winked at him and Scorpius looked skeptical.

"Hey, I don't want to be the first one there!"

"Why, exactly?"

She rolled her eyes at him. Wasn't it obvious?

"Because then I'd look over-enthusiastic."

Through a mouthful of cereal, Hugo cut in."

"Rose. That is the stupidest thing I have ever heard. Get lost before I Floo dad at work and tell him what you're wearing."

"Right. Good point. I'll see you then!"

She waved at them and allowed herself one large, excited grin in Scorpius' direction before running to the garden gate to escape the protective wards and disapparating.

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When she arrived at one of the apparation points at Diagon Alley, Rose stepped out of the side-street into the hustle-bustle of people shopping, laughing, calling greetings to one another and, from the little café to her right, clinking their knives and forks against their plates. She checked the pretty gold watch that had been given to her as a birthday gift by her grandparents on her seventeenth almost a year ago and saw that she was still a few minutes early for meeting Ben. Frowning, she made her way over to a little gift shop instead, intending to browse until she could see him waiting outside her Uncle's shop.

Ten minutes later, she was still in the little shop glancing worriedly at the joke shop across the street. She and Ben should have met by now and should have been sitting in a coffee shop chatting and flirting, as was their custom. She decided to make her way across to wait by the shop window, breaking her rule of never being the first to arrive. As she waited, she grew increasingly upset but stayed there resolutely, perching on the window ledge and pretending to watch people going past as though she hadn't a care in the world. She was extremely glad when her Uncle George appeared through the door of the shop.

"Is that you Rosie?"

"Uncle George!"

Her uncle made an extravagant gesture and produced a flower from up his sleeve, handing it to her with grace. She giggled and accepted, and it promptly squirted her in the face.

"Well that was mean. I am your favourite niece after all; shouldn't you be nice to me or something?"

"Well, it smells nice."

She laughed as she wiped he face carefully with the tissue he conjured for her.

"How are you then Rosie? What are you doing standing outside without coming in to say 'Hello'?"

"I was going to stick my head into that mad place you call a shop, I'm just waiting for someone."

"You've been standing there for quite a while."

"Well, he's a little bit late."

Glancing at her watch, a slight frown creased Rose's brow. In this situation, 'a little bit late' meant twenty minutes. Putting his arm around her, her Uncle George skated over the slight unease that had fallen over her as though it wasn't even there. He had a knack for making people feel better.

"Did you say 'he'? Would that He happen to be the 'completely made-up' boyfriend that Fred was telling us about?"

Rose turned red. Coughing slightly, she stared determinedly at the people walking past.

"It is, isn't it! What's his name? Paul? Jerry? Phillipe? I bet he's French. He is, isn't he?"

"Shut up!"

"Ooh, I know that look. That's the look I got from Ginny that time when I walked in on her kissing Harry in the kitchen the morning of Bill's wedding."

"Ok, ok! He's called Ben, he's in Gryffindor and he's in my year! Will that shut you up?"

"That'll do nicely."

"Good. Not a word to Dad. He'll just about skin me."

"Wouldn't dream of it."

At that moment, Rose spotted Ben strolling towards them some way up the busy street.

"There he is now."

"And that'll be my cue to leave. Lovely seeing you Rose."

"Bye, Uncle George!"

* * *

When Ben finally reached her, Rose had plastered a fake smile onto her face and accepted his hug. At the touch of his skin on hers, the butterflies erupted in her stomach again and fake smile became real.

"I'm really sorry I'm late, Rosie. Something happened, I got delayed. I'm here now though."

She didn't care to notice that he didn't _look_ very sorry.

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**A/N**Well, first meeting with Ben, whom many of you have been saying should die... What do you think?!

Also, I slightly changed the formatting style, as what I tried with the previous chapters wasn't working. If I get a chance I will go back and change them, but no promises :3

I'm going to stick to updating every other day but since this chapter is a day early, the next chapter will be up on the 3rd of January!

**~MaryLouise1996**


	5. Chapter 5: Scorpius

**A/N**Here's the new chapter for you guys! I hope you enjoy it :D **~MaryLouise1996**

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The Flower and the Scorpion

Scorpius watched Rose jogging to the edge of the wards feeling bitter-sweet. On one hand, he loved seeing his best friend excited and happy; she was positively radiant when she was looking forward to something, but on the other hand, he really didn't trust Ben Thomas. He didn't like him. He didn't trust him. Al didn't like him. Al didn't trust him. Why couldn't Rose see that he was just not a good guy?

_I could make her happy._

The unbidden though shocked Scorpius. He froze, spoonful of cereal halfway to his mouth, as he tried to figure out where it had come from.

"If you're picturing my sister I'm going to have to kill you."

Scorpius looked over at Hugo, with his messy brown curls and big blue eyes. The blue eyes were narrowed daringly, but the mischievous glint hidden in their depths gave him away immediately.

"Ooh. Now I am. She looked pretty damn ho-OOFT-"

Hugo laughed as Scorpius bent over the table. For a midgetty heading-for-fifth year, that was a killer punch, even playfully.

"Ever thought about taking up ring fighting? You'd be good, or failing that I'd love to see you beat around the head by a mean-looking guy with no teeth."

"I'll think about it. For now, I think I'm just gonna focus on school. Seems like the most sensible thing."

"When do you ever focus on school? Every other week you've got a new prank of epic proportions to pull off. Which more often than not you ask me for help with, which is understandable since I am practically a god."

"Merlin's left buttock are you a god. You practically beg me and Freddy to let you help us. It's kind of pathetic actually."

"Piss off. I'm going to Jake's, have fun on your own all day!"

Grabbing a piece of toast, Scorpius headed upstairs to change.

* * *

_I could make her happy._

The thought spun round and round in Scorpius' mind, like a broken record. Where had it even come from? Was it hormone induced, stemming from the cute little outfit Rose'd been wearing? Or did it go deeper than that? Was this the reason for the little niggle that went on in the back of his mind whenever he was spending time with her? Scorpius had never actually noticed the little niggle, but now that he thought about it… It was always there.

This couldn't be good.

Escaping the anti-apparation wards, Scorpius turned on his heel, Jakes house in Hogsmeade vivid in his mind's eye. He arrived at the tumbledown little cottage and walked towards the front door, knocking loudly. When Jake appeared, knowing that he would be the only person in, Scorpius strode silently through to Jake's bedroom and flopped down on the bed. Jake followed him warily.

"What's up mate?"

"I think I like Rose."

There was a moment of silence before Jake bent double, laughing his head off. Scorpius sent a very mild stinging hex at the back of his head and he stood up, wiping tears of mirth from his eyes.

"Aye, that's a good one Scorp. There's no-one like you when it comes to livening up the day."

"Dude. I'm serious. I actually think I like her."

Jake stared at him for a moment. The laughter was entirely gone from his face, replaced by an expression of disbelief.

"That's the most stupid thing I've ever heard."

Scorpius sighed.

"Yes, I'm aware of that. Now could you please tell me why?"

"Number one: She's going out with Thomas. Number two: She's your best friend. Number three: She's your other best friend's cousin. Number four: It's ridiculous. Number five: You've been stuck in the friend-zone for a lo-o-o-ng time. Number si-"

Scorpius cut him off.

"I **know **it's ridiculous, but what do you mean I'm 'stuck in the friend-zone'?!"

"I mean, you're stuck in the friend-zone. You've been friends with her since you met on the train way back as a first year. You would have ended up in the friend-zone around about fourth year when people started seeing each other and she decided you were too good a friend to lose over a break-up. You'll have been going further and further into that black hole ever since then. It's a lost cause."

Scorpius stared at him, dumbfounded.

"Really?"

"Really. Besides, you don't really like her. It's just because you're staying with her and you can smell her all the time. All girls smell good, not just her. Go fishing."

"You're right. It probably is just because I'm staying with her. This'll pass."

"Yes it will."

"Goes without saying that if anyone finds out about this I'll punch you."

"Yes it does."

"Good. Now then, where's your food?"

Laughing, Jake followed Scorpius out of the room down to the kitchen where his friend proceeded to ransack his kitchen.

* * *

For the rest of that day Scorpius and Jake did the things that they did best. They browsed through the new branch of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes that had just opened up on Hogsmeade high street, they visited The Three Broomsticks for Butterbeer and a shot of Fire Whiskey, they destroyed the kitchen of Ben's house in an attempt to make a toasted sandwich and they played on a new-fangled muggle thing called an Xbox that Ben's muggle father had brought home the week before when he'd come back from his job as a muggle advisor within the Ministry Of Magic.

They were lounging out across the floor watching rubbishy TV before the subject of Rose came up again.

"Mate?"

"Yeah?"

"I think I still might like her."

* * *

**A/N**Can I just say thank you to every single one of you who is reading this? I just think it's crazy that anyone is even reading my little story, so thank you :')

I'd also like to send a shout out to LittleMissSelenaMalfoy, the Pin Girl to my Basecoat. We are superheros together and we totally rock it. Thanks for talking to me, it makes me feel like a mysterious internet person or something :3

Please review, and let me know what you think! I love hearing your opinions! The next chapter will be published on the 5th of January, so keep an eye out :) **~MaryLouise1996**


	6. Chapter 6: Rose

**A/N**So I'm back on time with another chapter! I'm afraid that this one is quite a lot shorter than others, especially the last couple, but i hope that it will tide you over to the next one where we will be meeting some new characters! Without further ado, on to the chapter! **~MaryLouise1996**

* * *

The Flower and the Scorpion

The rest of the summer sped by in a haze of family meals, crazy days at The Burrow, meeting with friends from school, but mostly just laughing with Scorpius. Laughing as he grimaced at a girly bit in a film, laughing as he picked her up like a feather when she tried to push past him for the shower, laughing as he beat her father at Wizard's Chess and her father proceeded to shake his chess pieces individually as a punishment. Laughter was the main thing that Rose thought of when she remembered the summer.

* * *

Rose was sitting in the kitchen with her mother a week before they were due to go back to Hogwarts for the new school year. It was a Saturday, so Hermione didn't have to go into work and Rose had woken early to spend time with her. The morning sunshine streamed through the open window and a hint of a breeze teased the back of Rose's neck.

It had been a hot summer, and she, Scorpius, Hugo and whoever else had happened to be around had played a lot of Quidditch to get away from the ground, which seemed to radiate the heat. Having flown through the air so much with the wind streaming past, sitting in the still air of the kitchen was almost unbearable.

"It's a lovely morning, Mum. Why don't we eat breakfast outside?"

"That's a great idea sweetheart."

Hermione smiled at her daughter and began to spoon fruit salad into bowls for them both. Rose stood up to go out into the garden, but as she did so a large barn owl swooped through the window with three letters bearing the Hogwarts crest tied to her leg.

As she untied the letters, Rose noticed that her own letter was considerably thicker and heavier than either Hugo's or Scorpius'. As the light-brown owl flew back out through the window, Rose tore open the envelope, effectively crushing the Hogwarts crest wax stamp. She gasped as a small gold badge slid out onto the table and lay there, glinting up at her. She picked it up and turned it over in her hand to read it for herself.

_Head Girl._

"Mum! Mum, look! I got Head Girl!"

Hermione spun around looking delighted.

"Oh, well done darling! I'm so proud of you!"

Smiling broadly, Hermione blinked away the tears of pride that glistened in her eyes and drew her daughter into a tight hug.

"I'm going to Floo your father! He's going to be so pleased."

"Ok, mum."

"Wait a second, missy. Don't think you're getting off that easily! You and I are going into London to buy you a present today as well! I'm going to treat you; you deserve it, sweetheart."

Rose watched disbelievingly as her mother bustled through to the sitting room where the fireplace was. She couldn't believe this! She was Head -freaking- Girl!

Doing a little happy dance to herself, she picked up her breakfast and went to sit in the garden and wait for her mum to come back

* * *

Later that evening, as she sat with her family and Scorpius for their evening meal, Rose looked down to her wrist at the beautiful bracelet that her mother had bought her. It was made of curved silver bars with a ball at each end that were then linked together to create a flowing bracelet. She loved it.

As she looked up, Scorpius caught her eye. She hadn't spent any time alone with him today, so she was unsure how he really felt about her new status. He flashed her a genuine smile and she relaxed slightly, until she noticed a wistfulness in his eyes. That was when it struck her.

The Head Boy and Girl were moved from their own dormitories and common rooms to special quarters just for them. That meant that she would spend an awful lot less time in the Ravenclaw common room, with Scorpius.

They were study buddies. It had been the same ever since first year; they would spend the majority of their time with other friends (Scorpius with Albus and others, Rose with Keira and others) but most evenings they would meet in the common room and spend time doing homework or studying together, just them. They could still do that, of course, but it just wouldn't be the same this year.

* * *

**A/N**I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Please drop me a review and let me know what you think! **~MaryLouise1996**


	7. Chapter 7: Scorpius

**A/N**I'm really sorry for the very late update, I'll explain in the authors note at the end. In the mean time, I hope you enjoy this chapter! **~MaryLouise1996**

* * *

The Flower and the Scorpion

"Scorpius!"

Scorpius span on his heel in the middle of Diagon Alley as someone yelled his name.

"Albus! You're back!"

The two boys embraced in the street as they reached each other and immediately began talking. They hadn't been in contact all summer since Albus had been travelling Europe and wasn't in any fixed position from which they could correspond for long enough.

"How's your summer been? Rose driven you mad yet?"

Scorpius swallowed uneasily.

"Oh no, of course not! Did you hear she's gotten Head Girl?"

"No way, that's awesome! Who's Head Boy?"

"She's not sure."

"Aw, I thought it might have been you. You are a prefect and all."

"Nah, I prank too much for that! How was your trip?"

"It was amazing, we had the best time! Me and James even got along for a change..."

The two boys ambled through Diagon Alley, dipping in and out of shops, staring through the window of Quality Quidditch Supplies at the new Firebolt model and buying bags of sweets from Sugarplum's Sweet Shop.

* * *

"Albus! Scorpius!"

They turned around as they heard Rose's voice calling them. She was moving towards them surrounded by a crowd of friends, among them Keira and Albus' cousin, Roxanne. Scorpius found himself absent-mindedly running his hand through his hair and quickly brought his arm down, hoping Rose hadn't noticed.

"Hey Rosie! I didn't realise you were here today as well."  
"Oh, we only just arrived. Amelia's mum told us to find something to do because we were making too much noise."

"It's like she thinks we're still first years. We're seventeen!" Amelia chimed in angrily. She was fairly tall and naturally skinny with long, straight dark hair and blue eyes and Scorpius noticed, as he glanced sideways at Albus, that the other boy had turned slightly pink.

As the group piled in to Fortesque's Ice Cream Parlour, they were making a great deal of noise. Chatting, laughing, poking and shoving, they crowded around a large table and made their orders. Scorpius, using his masterful techniques, managed to herd the girls so that Albus ended up sitting next to Amelia. Albus looked slightly stunned and incredibly awkward for a moment before pulling himself together and adopting his usual mask of casual confidence. He leaned back and flicked his hair out of his striking green eyes, carefully joining in with the gentle joking going on around him.

Grinning at his friend's antics, Scorpius followed suit in leaning back in his chair only to find that, across the table from him, Rose's friend Grace was smiling at him. Not just any smile, the slow, seductive, flirtatious kind. It made Scorpius uncomfortable and, after shooting her a small smile out of politeness, turned to his left to talk with Keira.

Keira, he had to admit, was beautiful, with her long, honey-brown hair that she almost always wore up 'because it got it out of the way' and bronze pixie-like features. She had a small spattering of freckles across her nose and her hazel eyes had flecks of green in them and were framed by thick black lashes. Having spent a lot of time with her over the summer, when she had come by to visit Rose, he had also learned that she was sharp-witted and sarcastic, and he could see why her and Rose had become best friends in the first place; they both had a teasing demeanor and a thirst for adventure that they balanced very nicely with a hard-working attitude towards school.

Throughout the whole of his conversation with Keira and another of their friends, Courtney, Scorpius couldn't help but notice the pointed looks and huffed sighs coming from Grace and the looks the Keira and Courtney would share before starting to giggle. Giving up, he turned back to Grace and attempted to talk with her.

"So, Grace… How's your, erm, your summer been?"

Grace just dissolved into the annoying giggles that set Scorpius' nerves on edge. Gritting his teeth, he forced himself to smile at her with a flash of white teeth.

He knew that Rose and Keira and the other girls that they hung around with didn't particularly _like _Grace, they merely allowed her to hang around with them because she was in their Ravenclaw dorm room and way back in first year they had felt mean excluding her. She was the kind of girl with no particular personality or opinions of her own, who just existed in the background without making any contribution to conversations and such and who no-one really noticed if she was there or not.

Grace was now batting her eyelashes excessively at Scorpius, flicking her bleached hair over her shoulder. Screwing up his face slightly, Scorpius contemplated that she might be pretty, if she let her hair grow it's natural colour and didn't wear such revealing clothing or as much orange make-up.

He decided to try again.

"Are you looking forward to getting back to school then?"

This time, Grace blinked at him a couple of times before replying.

"Oh, yes. I'm very much looking forward to going back. Are you?"

"You know. School's school. I'm not too fussed."

As it was, Scorpius was actually very much looking forward to go back; it was the one place he truly felt at home, but he was interested to see Grace's reaction to an answer different from her own. Surely she must have some form of opinion that she would stick to?

"Oh." Grace began, turning pink. "No, you're right. School's school. Not that great."

Scorpius stared at her incredulously.

"Bu- but you just said you were looking forward to going back?"

"Yeah, but then I thought about what you said and realised that you're right."

Scorpius shook his head as Grace fluttered her eyelashes at him some more.

"So, ahm, have you had a nice summer?"

"It's been ok. I haven't done much, I don't suppose the other girls have either, since the only sleepover they've had I couldn't go to and we always do everything together."

Scorpius knew otherwise; the other girls had seen each other a number of times, but he chose to keep that information to himself. It would be cruel.

"Oh, right, yeah."

Looking around desperately for a distraction, Scorpius found Albus to be in playful conversation with Amelia and he couldn't bring himself to cut in, and all the other girls caught in a fast-flowing conversation that he would have had no hope of following.

"So Scorpius, I heard that you'd been staying at Rose's this summer?"

Looking back to Grace, he found her looking at him expectantly with a slightly hurt look on her face, though he couldn't think why.

"Oh. Yeah. I don't get on with my parents and Albus was away so her parents offered me a place to stay."

"Oh, right, yeah."

Grace mimicked his response from earlier. When he didn't reply, she tried again.

"I can't imagine living with _your _parents can be much fun. I mean, what with their background and everything."

Scorpius winced as she touched on the subject in the most indiscreet manner possible. He could barely imagine his luck as, just at that moment, Jake walked through the door to the ice cream parlour.

Jumping up, Scorpius waved Jake over. Grinning, the other boy pulled up a chair beside Scorpius' and waved to the table. "S'up guys! How are you… Grace, is it?"

* * *

**A/N**So, the reason for the late update is that as well as studying for exams that I have over the next couple of weeks, my grandfather passed away. As you can probably imagine, that has been really hard for me and my family, but I'm very sorry that I kept you waiting.

From now on, since I am back at school, updates of the story will be less frequent. I'm going to try and update at least once a week and I hope that this is ok.

I hope you are all having a lovely day, and I'll speak to you soon! **~MaryLouise1996**


	8. Chapter 8: Rose

**A/N**I'm so sorry it's been such a long wait! Without further ado, the new chapter Ladies and Gentlemen... **~MaryLouise1996**

* * *

The Flower and the Scorpion

Rose squeezed onto the bench seat in Fortesque's Ice Cream Parlour opposite Roxanne and ordered her favourite sundae: Bertie Botts Every Flavour Bean. She saw Amelia sitting down next to Albus and smiled. It was about time; she'd liked him for long enough. Glancing at Scorpius, she saw him smiling at the pair too and guessed -correctly- that he'd had something to do with their seating arrangement.

Keira clicked in her face to gain her attention.

"Hey, dreamy!"

"Ew. What do you want?"

"Cheeky. I just wanted to know if you want a drink while I'm ordering one."

"No thanks. Wait! Yes! Can I have a glass of water please?"

Keira turned back to the waiter and Rose leaned back and looked around at her friends. The group of six girls had been noisy enough as it was, but with the addition of Scorpius and Albus they made for one massive group of chatty teenagers. There was her cousin Roxanne, who was placed in Gryffindor but still hung out with her since they had been very close before school, and Roxanne's best friend Alex who was also a Gryffindor. Then there was the three other girls from her own Ravenclaw dormitory: Keira, her best friend; Amelia, her other best friend; and Grace, a girl who they managed just fine with but who, in all honesty, it didn't really make any difference whether she was there or not.

"So Roxy, how's Uncle George?"

"I haven't seen him much recently, he's been run off his feet in the shop because everyone's been stocking up for school I guess."

"Have you been helping him?"

"Nah, he wouldn't let me. He let Fred though, it's not fair!"

"Dude. Not cool."

Alex cut in there.

"Roxy, the last time I was at yours your dad specifically told me that he didn't want you working because he wanted you to spend time with your friends. Louis' friends spend all their time in the shop anyway!"

Roxanne shook her head dismissively.

"Details, details."

Rose laughed at her cousin's antics and deftly changed the subject.

"So Alex, what have you gotten up to this summer?"

The first couple of weeks back at school flew by without incident. Rose was settling into her role as Head Girl, working well with her Head Boy. The Head Boy-ship had been awarded to a Hufflepuff by the name of Fynn Carpenter whom she had already been on good terms with through prefect patrols in the previous years. He was tall with a mop of sandy-blonde hair and was fairly good-looking, at least according to her friends.

As Rose threw herself into her duties, she didn't have much time for anyone. She missed her friends, whom she only really saw at mealtimes, she missed her family, who she hadn't really seen since the big Weasley get-together at The Burrow before they had returned for the new school year, she missed Scorpius, and she hadn't managed to make it to the Ravenclaw Common Room for their study session since the start of term, and she missed Ben.

She and Ben hadn't seen each other outside of lessons and mealtimes since before the start of term. Tonight, a Friday evening three weeks from the start of term, Fynn had finally convinced her to take the evening off and she was spending it with Ben. She pulled one of her better Weasley jumpers on over a fairly boring skinny jeans-and-fitted blouse combo and rearranged the collar of the blouse over the neck of the jumper. The jumper was maroon with yellow-gold stripes around the neck, sleeves and bottom, so technically Gryffindor colours, but Rose didn't really care. House rivalries, for the most part, were a thing of the past, and with magic she could change the colours if she wanted to anyway.

She looked in the mirror and brushed her hair, which was three inches past her shoulder and red but smooth and naturally curled, unlike her mother's. Popping her feet into a pair of ballet pumps, she flicked off the light and descended the stairs to the Heads' Common Room. Fynn looked up from his position with his mates by the fire and gave her a wave. She smiled and waved back, before pushing open the door and walking down to the Black Lake to meet Ben.

Rose stood by the lake looking up at the silhouetted castle. She wrapped her arms around herself and shivered; the evenings were cold when you weren't moving. Finally, she made out Ben's figure moving towards her from the Greenhouses. His clothes were slightly rumpled and he was a bit red in the face as he jogged over.

"Sorry I'm late Rosie. I was working on my Herbology assessment and, ahm, got in a bit of a tussle with a Vined Schwarzenargle."

"You don't take Herbology though."

"I work on it in my spare time for extra credit. Surely you remember me telling you that."

Rose crinkled her nose as she tried to remember and Ben's chocolatey orbs caught her blue ones and she felt her stomach perform a somersault as his dark fingers twined with her creamy pale ones.

"Oh yeah, I remember."

As Ben pulled her into his strong arms she felt all of the stress of the past three weeks shift position. It didn't lift completely but it moved and, Rose reasoned, sometimes that's all you need. She didn't notice the new weight sitting right at the centre of her chest, or if she did she chose to ignore it. Their lips met again and again and eventually stayed connected, hands tangled in red hair, ballet pump-clad feet on tiptoes.

Eventually, Rose pulled back from the embrace and tilted her chin to meet Ben's eyes. She saw something darker than usual flit across their depths, but it was gone in an instant.

"How about be go for that walk around the lake?"

"Do you really still want to do that? Why don't we go up to the Gryffindor dorms? No-one's up there, they've all got some big thing planned tonight."

Rose's eyebrows knitted together at the implications of his words.

"Benny, you know how I feel about that stuff. I'm just not ready yet. I'd rather go for a walk with you."

"You're not really wearing very sensible shoes for walking though."

"Well I can change them if you want, but I can't really be bothered. If I had to go all the way back to my dorm I think I'd call it a night to be honest."

"No, no. Don't be like that Rosie. You look perfect. I wouldn't change a thing."

Ignoring the still-put-out expression on Ben's face, Rose took his hand and they turned onto her favourite footpath around the lake.

* * *

**A/N**So, again, sorry for the long wait :( I had absolutely awful writers block until about half eleven last night, although thanks to my failed attempts, I already have some of a future chapter written! *dances*

Thank you to you all, who are still here with me :') I love you all, thank you for every last favourite, follow and just read. But expecially reviews. Reviews make me skip around my room (until my fish gives me evils and I stop) so I love you all! **~MaryLouise1996**


	9. Chapter 9: Scorpius

**A/N**Not too bad on the unload front this time... Anyways, I'm actually super excited to share this one with you. It's a little different, but I hope you enjoy it! **~MaryLouise1996**

* * *

The Flower and the Scorpion

Scorpius sat in the Ravenclaw common room attempting to study. In fact, what he was actually doing was trying to pretend that he wasn't watching the door. Every time he heard Rowena's smooth voice on the other side of the big wooden door his head jerked upwards, until he heard someone reply in a voice that definitely wasn't Rose's and it dropped towards his book again. Not that he was waiting for her or anything.

She hadn't made it to any of their study sessions yet. Scorpius guessed that he thought that on a quiet Tuesday evening, a month into term, she might just be able to drop her Head duties long enough to come and see him.

"Scorpius."

He turned his head in the direction of his name and saw Keira appearing from the girl's dormitories, her honey-brown hair in its usual knot at the top of her head. Grace was, from his perspective, scurrying at her heels. He almost laughed as he saw Keira throw an almost imperceivable exasperated look at her.

"Have you seen Rose?"

Scorpius shook his head. Keira huffed impatiently.

"It's getting ridiculous. I literally haven't seen her since breakfast."

"I wasn't even at breakfast. I don't think I've exchanged two words with her since last week."

Grace bobbed on the balls of her ballet pump-clad feet, twirling a strand of bleached blonde hair around her finger.

"That's weird. I'd have thought she'd at least have made a bit of time for you. I mean, you were living with her this summer and you've been best friends even longer than her and Keira."

Keira turned to stare at Grace incredulously while Scorpius heaved his shoulders in a non-committal sort of way.

"Mm, you'd think."

"We can't even go and, like, harass her or anything because she hasn't gotten around to telling us the password to her new dormitory."

Catching Keira's eye, he raised his eyebrow in a '_How do you put up with that?' _sort of way. Ignoring his look, she began to flutter her thick black eyelashes at him.

"Scooorpiuuus….?"

"Yes Flower. What can I help you with?"

Raising his eyebrows sarcastically was all it took to make Keira – and Grace – dissolve into giggles. One set of giggles was that of someone who is finding something genuinely funny, and the other was the high, girlish kind that rasped on his nerves at the best of times, but right now it made him want to punch someone in the face. He didn't have to guess whose giggles belonged to whom.

"Are you up for some fun?"

Scorpius shrugged his shoulders.

"Well, I'm not really making any headway with this studying. I might as well do something. What are you suggesting?"

Keira pushed back her hoodie to reveal a bottle of Fire Whiskey tucked into the waistband of her jeans.

"Just down to the lake."

"Sure. I might as well. I'm not drinking though."

"It's your call."

"Is it just us?"

"Naa, we're meeting Roxanne and Alex and some other Gryffindors out there."

"Albus?"

"I don't think so. He and Amelia went off to 'study' somewhere."

She accented the word "study" by making air quotes with her fingers. Catching her meaning, Scorpius smiled for the first time that evening.

"Ah, I wondered why I hadn't seen Al much lately. Good for them."

Scorpius was pleased for Al, he was. But it still smarted that both of his best friends had found something or someone to replace him with.

* * *

When Scorpius, Keira and Grace reached the lake, they were met by Alice Longbottom stumbling towards them, giggling.

"Hi guys!"

She was speaking much too loudly, and Scorpius had to bite his tongue to stop himself from chuckling. Keira, however, did no such thing and burst out laughing.

"My, my Longbottom. You're smashed already!"

Alice brought her finger to her mouth in a highly exaggerated manner and 'shhhh-ed' loudly.

"Don't tell my dad."

Catching her around the waist, Scorpius steered her back towards the lake and out of site of the castle. Although things like this frequently happened at the school – and he was frequently part of them – it still wasn't wise to do it in full view of the windows. Alice tottered slightly and then leaned heavily against him, hiccupping. Catching sight of Roxanne, Scorpius raised his free arm in greeting.

"Good day Weasley. Pleased to see your capability in keeping your friend from going past the point of complete inebriation."

"Yeah, about that."

Roxanne looked at Alice with an odd expression.

"I think something's happened that she's not telling us about. She'd never usually do this."

"Well, you know what they say. If you can't get your hands on any Veritaserum, Fire Whiskey is the next best thing!"

Keira laughed at the statement as her and Grace came up behind Scorpius.

"I'll drink to that! If it weren't for the whiskey, people would never have known half the stuff about me that is apparently now common knowledge."

* * *

As the night progressed and the students around him became more and more out of it, Scorpius laid back in the grass and just listened. He had a swig or two from Keira's bottle just because he could, but stopped there. He was usually well up for a crazy night, but tonight he just didn't fancy it. Only when Alice started slurring about swimming in the Black Lake did he realise quite how far gone everyone else had got. Instead of laughing and telling her she was crazy they all agreed with her in the excited fashion that only someone who is beyond drunk can manage.

Scorpius sat up and watched as the small brunette stripped down to her underwear (much the amusement of the equally wasted Gryffindor lads who were part of the group) and stood, swaying slightly, before getting a good grip on a rope swing that hung from a tree on the water's edge. With a shriek she let go of the swing and flew into the water with a great splash, accompanied by too-loud cheers from the teenagers on the edge of the water. They all followed her lead, splashing about at waist-depth in the cold water. When Grace finally started whimpering about how cold she was, they took the group decision to get out and go back up to the castle.

As they all turned around and started dressing themselves Scorpius stayed staring at the water. Something wasn't right.

He jumped up quickly and ran the edge of the lake. Alice hadn't surfaced yet. Squinting his eyes in the darkness of the light, he couldn't make out any tell-tale ripples of someone swimming below the surface or hear any splashes. He cast a powerful Lumos from the tip of his wand and searched again.

_"Scor-pi-us."_

Keira appeared at his elbow, whispering comically loudly.

_"What are you doing? You'll get us-s-s caught."_

Ignoring her slurs, Scorpius stripped off his t-shirt and struggled out of his jeans. He'd just seen a slight ripple ten or twelve meters out. In one fluid motion, he dived into the water and struck out in the direction of the movement.

He'd only swum in the lake at night once before. It had been the result of a late night game of dares between himself, Albus and Rose, and he'd waded out to waist depth before dunking his head under and swimming back to the edge as fast as possible. This was completely different. As he reached the place he thought he'd seen movement, he snatched his wand from the waistband of his boxers and whispered 'Lumos' before diving below the water's edge.

Opening his eyes, he saw the light from his wand cutting through the murky water in narrow shafts. Far below him was the bed of the lake, completely covered in thick weeds that waved gently with the movement of the water. Scorpius' eyes burned from the unfamiliar contact with freezing water, but he refused to shut them; instead, he strained all around for a glimpse of his friend.

Something caught his eye: a flash of white disappearing among the weeds. In four strong pulls from his arms Scorpius was down there and he delved into the slimy plants. His hands grasped something smooth and familiar and he heaved with all his might to pull it into his line of vision. As the brown hair of Alice's head came into sight he breathed a mental sigh of relief which was swiftly answered by a screaming pain from his lungs. He needed air, fast. Alice needed it more.

Scorpius held Alice under her arms and kicked off the remaining weeds tangled around her ankles. As he began to pull her towards the surface of the water her long hair spread out in water around her head and he could see her skin was beginning to tinge blue and that there was a large wound bleeding on her temple.

The pair of bodies broke the surface of the lake and Scorpius spluttered as oxygen and water rushed through his mouth and into his lungs. Scorpius treaded water for a few moments, replenishing himself with air, before beginning the laborious swim back to dry land. Unable to think of any spells that could help him, Scorpius resigned himself to pulling Alice to shore the Muggle way. He hadn't gone far though, when a dark shadow appeared below the pair in the water. Too exhausted to feel frightened, Scorpius didn't question it when he felt pressure on his back, guiding himself and Alice back towards the lake's edge much faster than he could swim.

As his feet grazed the shingle in the shallows of the water the mysterious help left him and he scrambled into action. He dragged Alice's limp form on the grass and, without thinking, sent off his Patronus with a message attached. He started working on her chest using the basics of chest compressions and mouth to mouth resuscitation that he had learnt from a muggle leaflet that he had picked up at the local village shop once with his mother. His attempts became more and more desperate as the minutes passed until finally, with a huge amount of spluttering, Alice began to breathe. As he turned his attention the now heavily bleeding cut on the side of her head, presumably caused by contact with a jagged rock, Rose appeared, with Professor McGonagall walking swiftly behind her. As Rose reached them, wearing pyjamas with her outerwear school robe thrown hastily on top of them, the professor conjured blankets to wrap around both students. Rose crouched down beside them.

"I sent Fynn to get Madame Patil from the Hospital Wing. What happened?"

As soon as Rose took over care of Alice, the adrenaline that had been fuelling Scorpius since he entered the water left his body. Instead of answering her question, he rolled onto his back and blacked out.

* * *

**A/N**Oooh! Bit of excitement there! More where that came from. Hopefully.

Now, me and my beautiful Pin Girl (LittleMissSelenaMalfoy) have a message for all of you, borrowed from Christina Aguilara but world-stoppingly true either way:

**You are beautiful, in every single way. Words can't bring you down.**

Sometimes people just need reminding, don't they?

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Please review and let me know what you thought. **I love you all.**

**~MaryLouise1996**


	10. Chapter 10: Rose

**A/N **Well, here's the next chapter - finally. It's been a long time in the works (almost a month - woops!) and definitely not helped by school. Thank you to everyone who has stayed with me, and welcome to any new readers! Without further ado, the new chapter Ladies and Gentlemen! **~MaryLouise1996**

* * *

The Flower and the Scorpion

Rose was tossing and turning in her bed, unable to get to sleep, when Scorpius' Patronus arrived. The silver ferret bounded through the window to her dorm and spoke in his voice, but he sounded desperately out of breath.

_"Rose, there's been an accident down by the lake. Please get help and come as quickly as you can. Please."_

The final word had been desperate and, despite Scorpius' tendency to crack jokes and pull pranks, Rose knew that this was for real.

In an instant she was out of bed, her feet had been pushed into the first pair of shoes she could find and her school cloak had been pulled on atop her pyjamas. She dashed out of her room and across the corridor to Fynn's door. After a few bangs it was pulled open to reveal the bleary eyed Head Boy blinking at her.

"Rose, what's the matter? It's nearly one in the morning."

"There's been an accident down by the lake. I need you to go and get Madame Patil. I'm going to go and get McGonagall. Be as quick as you can; it sounds serious."

Fynn's eyes widened in surprise and he kicked into action, dashing across his room to pull on a t-shirt and his own school cloak. Rose turned on her heel and left the Head's Quarters, running through the silent corridors with her wand held aloft to provide light.

She burst through the huge wooden doors, McGonagall hot on her heels, and hurried to the lake's edge. What she saw took her breath away. Scorpius was desperately pumping a girl's chest the muggle way and, just as Rose caught sight of them, the girl choked up some water and started to breathe laboriously. As she neared the pair Rose suddenly realised that the girl was Alice Longbottom, a girl who was like a cousin to her in everything except blood.

What had happened to lead to this? Despite being a Gryffindor, Alice was quiet and reserved and was never known to be in the thick of things.

Both Scorpius and Alice were in only underwear and were dripping wet and as they reached the two students Professor McGonagall had the sense to conjure two blankets.

Alice was bleeding heavily from a cut on her temple and Rose could see that Scorpius' hands were shaking as he fumbled around trying to do something about it. Rose kneeled down next to him and gently took over the care of Alice, who was clearly the victim of the accident mentioned in the Patronus.

"I sent Fynn to get Madame Patil from the Hospital Wing. What happened?"

Instead of hearing a reply, Rose felt Scorpius' presence leave her side and she turned her head in time to see him collapsing to the ground and passing out.

"Oh my god."

Rose felt panic rising in her throat and fought the urge to retch at the thought that she was out here alone with two unconscious students-

"Miss Weasley. If you will tend to Mr. Malfoy then I will deal with Miss Longbottom."

Rose sighed in relief. She wasn't on her own after all.

"Get some sleep Weasley. You look terrible."

Rose's eyes snapped open at the sound of Scorpius' voice. She found him staring back at her, grey eyes dancing with laughter.

"I bet I look a darned sight better than you did last night."

"Probably, but you haven't just saved a girl from drowning in the lake. Have you?"

"No I haven't, you little idiot."

"Am I little though? Really?"

"What? Are you asking me to call you a massive idiot? Is that where this is going?"

"Oh… Good point."

Snuggling down further in the chair, Rose lifted her feet onto Scorpius' bed and felt a distinct calm settle over her. There was something about this – the banter she held with Scorp – that relaxed her and made everything seem better than it had last night. She realised that she'd missed it in the past month and felt a sharp stab of guilt that she hadn't made time for her friends.

"So, what? Have you been sitting by my bedside all night?"

"Something like that."

Loathe as she was to admit it, Rose had felt almost paralyzed at the thought of Scorpius being hurt and when Madame Patil had arrived and told her that he was just exhausted she had been so relieved that she'd stayed with him all night in the hospital wing. She'd helped out the school nurse where she could, but had spent the majority of the night just sitting by his bed. Sighing, Rose got down to the point.

"Scorpius, what _happened _last night?"

Frowning, the young Malfoy recounted the events of the night before. In return, Rose outlined what had happened after he had fallen unconscious. Both students had been rushed back up to the school and Professor Longbottom had been roused from his chambers. Frantic with worry, he had stayed by Alice's bedside until morning when he begrudgingly agreed to teach his classes for the day provided he was kept updated about her condition. Fynn had returned to bed while Rose remained in the Hospital Wing to help, and therefore was in classes today while Rose had been allowed the day off after a sleepless night.

Rose held the hand of her unconscious friend. Smoothing back her long hair, she took the chance to examine the red raw skin on her temple; the only remainder of the deep gash that had so recently marred the porcelain skin.

Alice looked so peaceful and calm – from what Scorpius had said, it was a world away from the state that she had been in the night before. Rose couldn't help but wonder, what on earth had pushed her quiet, fun-loving may-as-well-be cousin to do something so uncharacteristic? This _just _wasn't something that Alice did. She was always there on these evenings – the completely-against-the-rules gatherings _avec l'alcool _out on the grounds. Heck, Rose was usually there! – but she never did this. She never got drunk like her friends; she just sat on the sidelines and laughed at their antics.

Rose couldn't help but feel like it was something big that had happened, to make her do this. As far as the teachers were concerned, an accident had occurred during an illegal night-time activity, but thanks to quick thinking the matter had been contained with minimum damage and all the remained was to punish those involved. Rose was determined to discover what was at the root of what had come to pass.

Rose snapped out of her ponderings as Alice's eyelids fluttered and the sleeping girl began to wake.

"Madame Patil!"

The nurse hurried over and cast a spell to check on Alice's vitals. Turning her attention the Rose, she offered a smile.

"Miss Weasley, would you please go and fetch Professor Longbottom? I promised that I would send for him as soon as his daughter regained consciousness."

As Rose quietly left the Hospital Ward and moved as fast as she could through the corridors, she hoped that her Uncle Nev would be on a free period. Otherwise there was a good chance that she would be asked to watch a class of rowdy third-years while he hurried to his daughter's bedside. Despite her easy-going nature Rose just didn't think that, after a worrisome night with no sleep, she would be up to controlling twenty excitable students.

As she had hoped, Rose had found Neville in his office with no class to teach, and she now watched him hold his daughter in his arms, tears shining in his eyes, as he half-heartedly berated her.

Respectfully withdrawing, Rose slipped around the curtain surrounding Scorpius' bed to find the blonde flat on his back, snoring slightly. Rose knew from experience – camp-outs and such – that this was not a natural sleeping position for him and observed the fiercely tucked in sheets surrounding him that had no doubt prevented him from rolling over as he slipped in to sleep. A sudden wave of exhaustion swept over Rose as she watched her best friend and she sank in to the chair bedside Scorpius' bed, propping her feet on the bed frame, and fell into a fretful snooze.

* * *

Rose left the Hospital Wing late in the evening, both Scorpius and Alice having been ordered to stay under Madame Patil's care for one more night, and meandered through the silent corridors, lit by torch light, towards the Head's common room. Her mind wandered through the events of the day and night before.

Unexpectedly, she turned a corner and came across and lone figure, walking quietly but with purpose away from her. Her heart jumped as she realised who it was, and she felt butterflies awaken in her stomach and her face lit up with a smile.

"Ben!"

The boy nearly jumped out of his skin at the sound of her voice and looked flustered as he turned around to look at her.

"Oh, hey baby."

Noticing his reluctance, Rose stopped just in front of him without moving in for the hug she wanted.

"What are you doing out so late?"

"I had to run an errand. Where have you been all day?"

"Didn't you hear about the accident last night?"

"What, you mean down by the lake with that Malfoy boy? Why were you involved in that?"

Ben had crossed his arms into a defensive position and Rose unconsciously mimicked him, her back having been put up by his 'Malfoy boy' comment.

"Yeah, down by the lake. Scorp pulled Alice from the lake and she could have died. He sent me a message to get help."

"Why did he send you a message?"

"Because I'm Head Girl."

"Oh. Well, where have you been all day?"

"In the Hospital Wing. I've been helping Madame Patil tend to Alice and Scorp and stuff."

"Why? That's not your job. You should have been in lessons!"

"Ben, they're two of my best friends in the world! I was given the day off anyway, but nothing would have made me leave their bedsides until I was sure they were okay. What don't you get about that?"

"I don't know Rose. Maybe you should have let me know or something."

Rose felt all of the fight flood out of her in one go and she felt deflated and small. Her eyes filled with hot tears that threatened to spill over as she stared at the floor. She hated when she argued with Ben. The thought of them not being _them _scared her more than she was willing to admit and she'd lost count of the amount of times she'd backed down first from an argument. She spoke in a small voice.

"I'm sorry. I should have. I was tired."

She looked up in surprise as she felt a warm hand on her arm and found Ben's deep brown eyes looking at her in concern.

"Are you okay Rosie?"

"I guess."

"Come here."

He wrapped her in his arms and she relaxed to fit the contour of his body. She was stressed and worried and _so tired _and she lost herself in the feeling comfort that she felt from close proximity with her boyfriend. She wasn't sure how long they'd been standing there when she felt Ben murmur into her hair.

"Rosie, I promised I'd meet someone to tutor them in Transfiguration, but I can walk you back to you dorm if you need me to."

"No, I'll be fine."

"You sure?"

"Yep. I'll see you tomorrow."

Ben pressed a kiss to her forehead before turning and walking away down the corridor, and Rose was left feeling warm and with a silly smile on her face.

* * *

**A/N**Well, there you go people. Can't say for sure when the next chapter will be published, but lets hope that it's not as long coming as this one! I love you all. Thank you and good night. **~MaryLouise1996**


	11. Chapter 11: Scorpius

**A/N***Gulp...* I'm sososo sorry this took so long. I'm still not really happy with it, but I couldn't not post it any longer. So, I'm sorry if it doesn't quite make sense. I hope you like it anyway. **~MaryLouise1996**

* * *

The Flower and the Scorpion

"How's your little crush on Rose coming on then?"

Scorpius glanced up in surprise at Jake's unexpected comment. They were in the Gryffindor boy's dorm, Jake sprawled across his own bed and Scorpius on Al's bed since the other boy was at Quidditch practice. He chose not to answer and instead tossed a Bertie Botts Bean into the air and caught it in his mouth. He grimaced as the taste of dirt filled his mouth.

"I'm going to take your brooding silence to mean that it's going swimmingly then."

Scorpius snorted sarcastically. "Yeah. It's brilliant. I love pining after my best friend who I never see and also happens to be in a relationship with a complete knob. It's fucking great."

"Good to know."

Scorpius threw a bean across the room at the other boy, where it bounced off his forehead and left him looking slightly stunned.

"When you're in my situation, feel free to come to me so I can give you as much help as you've given me."

"Will do, mate. Always happy to help."

At that moment, a mud-covered Albus burst unceremoniously through the door and dumped his filthy Quidditch gear in a pile next to his bed. His broom, however, – his prized possession – he placed carefully into his almost empty trunk.

"Well, lads. I think it's safe to say that we've got this match in the bag." He grinned broadly, green eyes glinting, and proceeded to shove Scorpius off the bed.

Disgruntled, Scorpius scowled at Al from his spot on the floor. "I should bloody hope so! You've been training enough. I'm surprised you've even got enough energy to open your flipping eyes."

Albus threw his head back and laughed heartily. "We'll be wiping those Puffs off the soles of our shoes."

Jake grinned maliciously from his bed. "If you do, we'll have to pull a huge prank to celebrate. I'm thinking "The Strawberry Jelly Corridor" on a wider scale. With glitter. Lots and lots of glitter."

"What are you? A Leprechaun?" Jake responded to the insult by throwing a pillow into Al's laughing face.

"Go and have a shower, you filthy animal."

"I think that's my cue to leave. See you lads around." Scorpius heaved himself off the floor and ambled out of their dorm room with the intention of getting outside to give himself space to think.

* * *

Have dashed back to the Ravenclaw dorms (being delayed only by a simpering Grace who flicked her hair a lot) he headed outside in his running gear to clear his head. He didn't trust himself to fly at the moment – there was too much going on in his head – so he had settled for pounding the gravel around the lake a few times.

The rhythm of his feet hitting the floor and the concentration of keeping his breathing even did something for Scorpius that helped him see everything in a better light. He felt more detached from what was going on in his life and therefore more able to sort through the thoughts and information in his head without getting worked up. It helped him clear his mind out – a spring clean for the brain, he thought.

First, he thought about his life in general. School, friends, family. The family part caused him the most trouble. He had been estranged from his family for nearly a year and a half now. He didn't really care all that much and he hadn't seen them face to face since he'd left home in the summer bridging his 5th and 6th years. He received the odd letter from his mother these days, but he wasn't willing to reciprocate. His father and paternal grandparents had been fighting on what he considered to be the _wrong_ side of the war 25 years ago, and while his mother had remained neutral in the conflict she made it quite clear that she believed herself – a pureblood – to be of higher class than other wizarding families.

From the day he was born, his immediate family had attempted to raise him under their beliefs. His father was a cold and distant man and as a child Scorpius had been terrified of both him and his grandfather. His grandmother, he had been told, was a disgrace to the Malfoy name because she had left her husband after the war to live with her sister, Andromeda. She was the only member of his family that he had any respect for, and he had never even met her. He remained indifferent to his mother, simply because she chose _not_ to openly challenge the beliefs of his father and grandfather.

He had arrived at the Hogwarts Express in his first year with many thoughts and opinions in his head, but he soon realised that they were not his thoughts, nor his opinions.

He had received a letter from his grandfather just before he broke up last summer, threatening to remove him from the family tree, ergo rinsing their hands of him and cutting him off from any funds he was currently receiving and the Malfoy inheritance. It had not happened yet and, although the threat still hung over his head, he had a sneaking suspicion that his parents, however angry and cold they were towards him, wouldn't allow it to happen. He was still their son, after all.

Next, he thought about Rose. It was now six weeks into the term and he had barely seen or spoken to her. They had seen each other a little more since the incident by the lake, but she still felt herself too busy for their usual study sessions and when they spoke there was some underlying problem that made it stilted and awkward. Scorpius, quite frankly, hadn't felt comfortable around her since the day in the Hospital Wing. He didn't know what had happened to change their easy relationship, but he hope that the problem would resolve itself soon.

As he ran, Scorpius finally admitted to himself quite how much he liked Rose. Before, he had regarded it as a petty crush – a passing fancy – and believed that it would go away fairly soon. Now though, it felt different. Seeing Rose with Ben didn't just make him jealous, it physically hurt him, and that wasn't the way you felt about a passing fancy.

Thoughts of Rose naturally gave way to thoughts of Alice. Although the former had been trying hard to get to the bottom of the night at the lake, Alice had been evading Rose's questions, refusing to tell her what had made her want to get so entirely legless almost two weeks earlier. Scorpius, like Rose, felt like there was more to it all than Alice was letting on. Her replies were _too _cheery, her smiles were _too_ wide. She acted like everything was so great when people were looking – like the other night had been a teenage mistake, a fatal accident that didn't happen – but as soon as she was alone she dropped the demeanor and became quiet and fidgety. Quite frankly, she looked scared. Scorpius had decided to try where Rose had failed – although by no means given up – and he had the perfect weapon. He had saved Alice's life.

As he completed his third lap of the lake, Scorpius felt calmer and more put together than he had in weeks. He headed for the castle with the intent of having a quick shower before trying to find Alice and get some answers out of her.

* * *

He eventually tracked the girl down in a far corner of the library, a book open in front of her even as she stared out of the window at the darkening sky and chewed her lip worriedly. Scorpius wordlessly slid into the seat opposite her.

"Don't Scorpius."

"Don't what?"

"I know why you're here."

Scorpius raised his eyebrows. "God, it sounds like a scene from a film doesn't it. Who am I? The detective? I reckon you're the friend with a dark secret that she is forbidden to reveal."

Instead of coaxing a smile out of the girl in front of him, Scorpius seemed to have only made her more distressed. As her big blue eyes filled with tears he moved around the table to sit beside her and put his arm around her shoulders.

"No, don't cry! I was only joking."

Alice turned towards him and began sobbing into his chest.

"Shh, shh. What wrong, Al? What's going on?"

Scorpius rested his cheek on the top of her head and rubbed her back soothingly, sending anyone who happened to appear from behind the bookcases away with a pointed glare. Slowly, her sobs turned into quiet sniffles.

Finally Alice sat up and looked Scorpius in the eye.

"What's going on Alice? I want to help."

Alice lowered her eyes, bottom lip quivering.

"I _can't _tell you." she whispered, hardly loud enough for him to her.

"You can tell me. You can tell me anything. We can sort this, whatever it is, out."

Alice looked at him sharply. "You don't get it! I can't tell you, because if anyone finds out he is going to do something."

Scorpius was confused. Alice was talking in riddles. "_Who_ is going to do _what_?"

"Something bad. He is going to hurt someone who I couldn't bear to be hurt. I'm not telling you who."

"Okay. I won't ask you about that then." Scorpius paused, looking for the right question. "What can't you tell anyone then?"

"I really can't tell anyone, Scorp. Especially you. If I tell you you'll go straight and tell Rose- Shit."

* * *

**A/N** So, please please drop me a review and let me know what you thought?! I'll love you forever :') **~MaryLouise1996**

**20/05/2013 - **Slight change made to the last five lines.


	12. Chapter 12: Rose

The Flower and the Scorpion

Rose was deep in thought as she systematically searched the shelves of the library for a book that she needed in order to write her Transfiguration essay. Although Alice had been avoiding both Rose and the questions Rose wanted to ask her, Rose was still determined to get to the root of the problem. She hadn't made any progress recently, but she had seen Scorpius and a tearful Alice deep in conversation two nights ago, on Saturday. She seen neither hide nor hair of either of them other than in class since, and made a mental note to ask Scorpius what they had been discussing the next time she saw him.

Begrudgingly, she admitted to herself that she was unlikely to see him at all any more without actively seeking him. Since moving into Head's accommodation she rarely entered the Ravenclaw common room and was otherwise too preoccupied to exchange more that a smile with him in the corridors. Just as she resolved to go and find him _as soon as she had found this damn book,_ a pale hand appeared on the bookcase by her head.

"Is this the one you're looking for?" Scorpius asked, wiggling a leather-bound volume in front of her face.

Rose's face lit up. "Yes! Are you done with it?"

Suddenly all of the teasing disappeared from her friend's face and his expression became serious. "Why are you still with Thomas?"

Trying to ignore the weighty atmosphere, Rose simply countered with a quick "Who, Ben? Why? Do you fancy him?" Her nervous giggle seemed too loud.

"He's an arse Rosie. You have to break up with him."

Rose saw red.

Quick as a flash, she cast a tongue-tying hex and watched Scorpius choke on whatever useless words he was trying to say.

"I am **not **discussing this with you right now. Or ever, for that matter. Ergh. I have to go. I'm covering someone's rounds tonight."

She turned on her heel and left the library, not even remembering the essay that she needed to write or the book that she needed to write it.

She didn't see the worried look on Scorpius' face at her words.

* * *

Rose wandered through the corridors alone, absentmindedly checking classrooms and broom cupboards for the usual mischief makers and hidden couples. Although she and Sam had agreed to take on tonight's round as a favor to a pair of fifth year prefects together, Sam had been roped into tutoring dome struggling first years at the last minute and so Rose was conducting them by herself. She was quite thankful for the thinking-time if she was honest. She had been surprised by Scorpius' unexpected ambush in the library and needed time to process it.

Her relationship with Ben had always been a sore subject between Rose, Albus and Scorpius because the three boys had never gotten on. After a few explosive rows between Rose, Scor and Al, it had become an unspoken rule that none of them brought it up. She had been surprised that Scorpius had mentioned it tonight, and that he had been so forward in his objections.

Just as Rose pulled open a heavy door to a -mercifully empty- broom cupboard, she heard footsteps in the corridor behind her. She swung around to find Jake Mitchell, Scorp's best mate, jogging towards her.

"Hey Mitchell, it's nearly past curfew. You shouldn't be here."

"I know; I just needed a word with you. Why are you on your own?"

Rose narrowed her eyes and scrutinized the boy in front of her, trying to deduce his intentions. "Sam had to bail at the last minute and it was too late to find anyone to do rounds with me."

"Good, I didn't want to have to start searching cupboards for an unconscious Head Boy."

Against her best intentions, Rose let out a snort of laughter.

"Ha, see! Got you laughing!"

"Yeah, ok. Now what do you want?"

Jake paused slightly. "What's going on with you and Scorp?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you haven't been around much lately–"

"I've been busy."

"I know, but I also know that a) Scorpius hasn't been himself, b) I'd really like my best mate back, and c) he seemed really upset about something earlier and after I removed a tongue-tie hex all I could work out from his mutterings as he stormed away was your name."

Jake stopped talking and glanced sideways at Rose for a few beats before continuing. "Care to tell me what's going on?"

Rose was silent. Her insides twisted as a battle raged internally; to spill all and lay herself bare to a boy she hardly knew, or to lie and pass it off as nothing. She could feel herself pulling a very strange face as two parts of her brain warred with each other, but she couldn't find it in herself to care.

Jake suddenly stopped walking and grabbed Rose's arm to pull her around to face him.

"They all miss you, Rose. Your friends and your family. When was the last time you spoke to Al, or Keira? They're your best friends, and you've become so bogged down trying to be responsible that you've forgotten the people who care about you."

"I know." Rose's eyelids stung with tears and she turned away to compose herself.

Jake's voice sounded softly from behind her. "I didn't mean to upset you. I just think you needed to hear it."

Rose turned back to face him and forced and weak smile onto her face. "Thank you. If you don't mind, I'd like to finish my rounds alone. I need some time to process this."

"Sure. I'll try to get back before curfew." Jake reached out and ruffled her hair. "Cheer up kiddo, it's not all bad."

Rose continued her rounds until, about ten minutes later, she came upon a closed door from behind which came the sounds of a couple's late-night hook up. Sighing, she shook herself and then flicked her wand, making to heavy door swing open.

"Come on guys, out. You know the- _Ben?_"

* * *

**A/N**There's the new chapter. I hope you enjoyed it.

Just so that you know, I have had to make a slight change to the last chapter during the part where Alice almost confesses to Scorpius to accomodate for the next chapter. Sorry!

**~MaryLouise1996**


	13. Chapter 13: Scorpius

**A/N**You guys only had to wait a week for this update. That's how much I love you! **~MaryLouise1996**

* * *

The Flower and the Scorpion

(Flashback in Alice's POV)

Alice tucked her brown hair behind her ear as she quickly navigated through the castle. She ducked through secret passages and dashed down staircases, aiming to reach the lake-side as quickly as possible. She had just come from the Gryffindor common room after dropping off her books and was off out for an evening with the gang. It was already after curfew and her footsteps echoed in the stone corridors, but so long as she was quick it wouldn't matter. Pushing aside a tapestry, Alice emerged from a dusty passage into an empty corridor and turned right, ballet-pump clad feet making tapping sounds against the floor. She was making an effort to make as little noise as possible now, as she reached a less deserted part of the castle, and she moved close to the walls. Quite suddenly, she heard footsteps and voices approaching from just around the next corner. Not wanting to be caught by anyone who might relay details of her little trip to her father, she opened the door to a handy broom cupboard and slipped inside.

Less than a minute later, the door swung inwards and a couple, locked in an embrace, crashed into the space Alice was already occupying. Apparently oblivious, the two students did not release each other until she coughed lightly. That's when time seemed to stop, because Alice got a look at the male-counterpart's face.

"Ben?"

If he was uneasy at being caught, Ben didn't show it. He simply straightened out his partially-unbuttoned shirt and grasped her wrist to prevent Alice from moving.

"Oh, hello Longbottom. I'd really appreciate it if you _didn't_ run and tell dear Rosie about this." With his words his grip tightened threateningly, and despite her quiet tendencies Alice found herself riled up for a fight.

"Fat chance! You can't cheat on one of my best friends!"

"Oh, I don't think you really have a say in this. You won't tell anybody, or you'll be sorry."

Alice almost laughed. "What kind of empty threat is that? Is that all you've got?"

Ben's face steeled dangerously and Alice's stomach clenched as his grip on her wrist became painful. He stepped close to her and spoke softly, threateningly. "Let me just spell it out for you. You have a younger brother don't you? In second year Hufflepuff? How would you feel if he accidentally… tripped down some stairs and tragically lost all of his memories?"

"You wouldn't."

Ben laughed coldly. "You underestimate me."

* * *

(Back to present, Scorpius' POV)

Scorpius replayed Alice's story in his head as he rushed through the castle trying to find Rose. Why hadn't he paid more attention when she had talked to him about the new Prefect round she had designed way back in the summer?

His hands shook with anger as he thought of Ben and the things he had been doing behind Rose's back, probably for months. The heartless twat didn't even care, and had had the audacity to threaten Alice into the bargain. If Scorpius had his way, Thomas would spend the rest of his life in the permanent injuries ward at St. Mungo's.

As well as being angry with Thomas, Scorpius was also angry with himself. He couldn't believe the way he had handled the situation in the Library. It had been totally unplanned, and he kicked himself for putting Rose's back up before he had managed to tell her about Ben. It had been that damn phrase again, swirling around in his head like a broken record.

_I could make her happy._

Instead of gently breaking the news to his best friend that her significant other had been cheating on her and had threatened her best friend, and then providing a shoulder to cry on, Scorpius had walked away from the incident with a hex that prevented him from removing his tongue from the roof of his mouth. Rose still didn't know of her boyfriend's seedy life away from her, and worst of all there was a very good chance that she would accidentally bust him while he showed an intimate affection for another girl tonight, since he wouldn't know that she was patrolling. Scorpius needed to find Rose fast.

He broke into a run as he rounded the corner of an empty corridor and collided almost immediately with Jake.

"Woah, mate! Where are you going?"

"I need to find Rose. Have you seen her?"

Jake nodded. "Yeah, I was with her about 10 minutes ago. She was on the next floor down."

Scorpius groaned inwardly and turned on his heel without a word, heading for the nearest secret passage that he knew would take him down a floor. He toured the corridors at a sprint, desperately searching for Rose. As he turned the corner to the 6th corridor he'd searched, he pulled to a stop.

Before him was a scene that nearly broke his heart.

Rose was sitting on the floor, leaning on the wall across from the open door of a broom closet. Her knees were drawn up close to her chest and her head was resting on them. Her arms were wrapped around her legs and her shoulders were shaking with silent sobs.

"Rose?"

She raised her head, showing her tear-streaked face and swollen eyes.

"Hey, Scorpius."

She sounded so dejected and sad, Scorpius' heart fairly shattered. It hurt him to see her so hurt.

"Rose, I'm so sorry. I tried to tell you b-"

In a second, Rose's expression changed from downcast to angry.

"You _knew_ about him?"

"I only found out last night, and I tried to tell you but you wouldn't listen!"

"So this is my fault now? You're trying to turn this on me? _You're_ the one who knew about the things he did and didn't tell me."

"Rose, come on. There's more to it than that. You have to believe me, just hear me out."

Rose was on her feet now, and she stooped to pick up her wand before pointing it at his chest. "No, Scorpius. I do _not_ have to hear you out. If you were my friend you would have told me as soon as you found out. You're obviously not the kind of person I want to associate with, _Malfoy._"

"Rose, why are you yelling at me? I'm the only one here, I'm trying to help."

"I don't need help from a dirty little Death Eater. Get away from me before I make you."

Scorpius looked from the wand she was pointing at his chest to the empty broom cupboard to the look in her eyes and made a decision. "Fine, Weasley. If that's what you want. I don't want to speak to you again until you're prepared to take back what you just said."

* * *

With that, he turned on his heel and walked away from her, through winding secret corridors and empty classrooms until he reached a castle exit and escaped out onto the grounds. He strode across the grass towards the forest, his mind a swirl of anger and hurt and, most oddly, love. Storming through the darkness of the forest, Scorpius stumbled over roots and ducked under branches. He kept moving, determined not to think about Rose and her catty comments. The dark swirl grew until it almost overwhelmed him, affecting his vision and his breathing. He reached a small clearing and threw up some wards against intruders, determined to remain alone.

He stood there for a moment, taking deep breaths and trying to calm himself. Before he knew what he was doing, he had retrieved his wand from his pocket and shot a Reducto hex at a tree stump in front of him. It shattered, throwing pieces everywhere. It felt satisfying to take his anger out on something. Again and again he threw curses and hexes at his surroundings, shooting up shields when necessary to protect himself, and reveling in the destruction he saw. Slowly but surely, Scorpius felt the anger and frustration leave him until he felt calm but drained.

That was Rose.

The passion, the excitement, the anger and the teasing. That was what Rose did to him. She made him crazy and she calmed him down, she made him happy and she made him sad. She could make him fly or make him wish he was buried 30 feet deep in the ground.

It was Rose.

In that moment, Scorpius knew that he loved her.

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**A/N**Please review and let me know what you thought! **~MaryLouise1996**


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